TRANSIENT ORCAS AND HUMPBACK WHALES

OCTOBER 3 2017 – We got to witness something really extraordinary this morning. The two families of transient orcas T65B’s and T123’s were traveling together and suddenly they started speed hunting Dall’s porpoises. The porpoises are the fastest cetaceans on the planet but the orcas have stamina and tired out the poor porpoises after a 30 minute chase. It was the two mothers T123 and T65B that hunted the porpoises while T123A “Stanley” a fully grown male and son to T123 sat back further behind and was babysitting his younger sister T123C and T65B1. The two youngsters are 5 and 6 years old and they got really excited to see their mothers hunting. So fascinating to see the compassion orcas has for their families! In the afternoon our zodiacs headed west and saw 5-6 humpback whales.